


Prosperity Ever After

by misura



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Future Fic, Jossed, M/M, Politics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2015-12-22
Packaged: 2018-05-08 12:31:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5497142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hadn't you heard I'm plotting to overthrow you?"</p>
<p>"After putting me on the throne first? That is devious, indeed."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prosperity Ever After

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pennyd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennyd/gifts).



Laurent took to his new position as an honorary uncle as well as could be expected, which was to say: not at all. Young Theomedes seemed like he either did not notice or did not care.

"Considering his family, both seem valid options," said Laurent, seating himself.

Damen frowned. "I care about your feelings. I've become fairly skilled at spotting them, too." Of course, he might only be flattering himself. Still, one did not require an abundance of observationary skills to interpret a kiss. (A public embrace, Damen had judged, might be pushing things, so he had refrained from that until they were in private. Laurent had borne it stiffly, but not unwillingly.)

Laurent gave him a long look. "If you want to keep your throne, you'll need to pay attention to other people and their feelings."

"This is not quite the conversation I expected us to be having."

"We could talk about the new trade agreements instead. I've been told," Laurent said, "that they grossly favor the Akielon traders, no doubt because it is well known the Veretian king is enamored of the Akielon king, who takes ruthless advantage of this fact."

Damen grinned, relieved to be back on more familiar and much more comfortable ground. "I think I might go so far as to agree with the last part."

"Quite." Laurent sipped his wine and grimaced.

"Which is why we both agreed to let the Trade Ministers and representatives work things out among themselves." The idea had been Damen's. He was still proud of having come up with it.

"Obviously, the fact that you were not personally present did not stop you from exerting your influence. Nor me from mine."

It was true that Damen had spoken with the Akielon delegation aforehand. It was doubtlessly also true that Laurent had spoken with the Veretian one. It had seemed polite, a way of showing that simply because he wouldn't be attending the negotiations himself, that did not mean he wasn't interested.

"We just can't get this right, can we?"

Laurent remarkably did not react to that 'we'. "I believe that a few small revisions may go a long way to smoothing things over."

And thus Laurent's easy acquiescence was explained. "No."

"Very well." Laurent sighed. "I'll ask again later, when you're in a more accommodating mood."

"We have a rule. No politics in bed." That was a compromise already; it meant Laurent would still talk to him about a bewildering numbers of other things when Damen barely had the wits to understand him, let alone come up with an intelligent response.

" _You_ have a rule. _I_ have a list of your weaknesses and the willingness to use them, should the situation call for it. Trade is important."

Damen did not claim to have a list as well. He knew, by now, what Laurent liked as well as, perhaps more importantly, what Laurent did _not_ like. Referring to the first category as 'weaknesses' would be going a bit far, though, he felt. "Keeping promises is important, too."

"In that case," Laurent said sweetly, "I promise to change your mind about the trade agreements."

Damen made a mental note to talk to his Trade Minister. The representatives were traders themselves; if the agreement did indeed favor the Akielons, they were hardly likely to admit so. "Can we talk about this tomorrow? When we're both dressed?"

"We're not both dressed now?" Laurent asked. He was smiling, though. "Oh, fine. I'm here for a week; I suppose I can make you do my bidding tomorrow as well as tonight."

It was not hard to guess where _that_ particular expression had originated. Kastor's faction might no longer have a figurehead, but that did not keep them from being a thorn in Damen's side.

He told himself that it was good to have a bit of discussion every now and then, to not be surrounded by people who would agree with everything he said.

"In Vere, we are much more practical about handling the opposition," said Laurent.

"This is not Vere." In some ways, Damen had found, _Vere_ was not Vere anymore, either. The court which he had been dragged into as a slave, which had elevated human cruelty to a form of art was no more.

Oh, there were still pets, and there were still fights, but the mood had wholly changed. The Veretian court had adapted to the tastes and wishes of its new king, and Laurent was not the kind of man the Regent had been. In truth, the changes had been almost a little unsettling.

That Damen had looked at some Akielon practices and found them to be, if not barbaric then at least a little old-fashioned and fit for modernization, did not help.

"It will be soon enough. Or hadn't you heard," Laurent said, "I'm plotting to overthrow you?"

"After putting me on the throne first? That is devious, indeed."

Laurent shrugged. "I'm Veretian. It goes without saying."

"You did not put me on the throne," Damen said, a little stung. True, he'd suggested the idea himself, but he had expected Laurent to deny it. "You helped me, and for that, I will always be grateful - _not_ so grateful that I'll change the trade agreements merely at your say-so, mind. But I am king here because I fought for it."

"I'm king because you helped me," Laurent said casually, as if the admission cost him nothing at all.

"So you - "

"So I will forever be in your debt, which is why I will never agree to invade Akielos even though our army is superior to yours in every way that counts." Laurent smiled at him. "Is it not delicious to know how utterly and completely you have me under your thumb?"

"Your army is hardly superior." In spite of Laurent's best efforts, Charcy had taken a heavy toll.

The Akielon losses had been far less severe, at least in part because several of the kyroi had, in the end, decided not to get involved at all. Damen was still of two minds on what to do with them. Should he favor them over those who had actively supported Kastor whom they had, at the time, considered to be their legitimate king? Or should he treat them as they had treated him, i.e. ignore them entirely?

His instincts told him to take the second course of action; Laurent, he suspected, might tell him to take the first, which was why this was one topic on which he would not ask for Laurent's advice.

"My army is Veretian. Its superiority should be obvious."

"It's a Veretian rumor, isn't it?" Nobody in Akielos would believe anything so ridiculous. "That you're not agreeing to let your troops invade us because you have a more direct route of attack."

"Originally, yes. It's popped up in a number of interesting places, though. Even _I_ was surprised."

Damen wished he'd stuck with the trade agreements. "Tell me if there's something I should be doing."

Laurent smirked.

"Other than execute people, or exile them."

"Not what I was thinking of at all. Although," Laurent said, "if you are ever in the right mood for it, I do have a list of people I'd like you to consider for that."

Damen sighed. "Who was holding undue sway over whom here again?"

"The word 'undue' being the operative part of that sentence, I'd have to say - "

"No more, please." He'd missed Laurent. It was not hard to remember why. It wasn't even particularly difficult to be happy that Laurent was, in fact, here now, within touching distance. "Dinner's in two hours. I thought we might visit the baths before then."

"So eager to get me out of my clothes? I almost feel like I should refuse."

"I said the baths," Damen said. "Not the bedroom."

"I heard you," said Laurent.


End file.
